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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to not want to pay £5k for a school trip?

455 replies

Lincspeeps · 08/10/2019 14:54

In short, DD's school are running a trip to South Africa in 2021 - safari, time in Madagascar, trekking, social responsibility work etc.

Problem is, its £4.5k plus spends and optional extras - the safari being one. So, with insurance, visas, inoculations etc it'll be five grand and more.

DD's three best friends are all going and we, at a massive stretch, could probably afford it BUT in reading where they stay etc it just seems like such a rip off. I want her to do something exciting but £5k just seems a ridiculous amount.

She's not spoiled and completely understands the value of money but she'll be devastated if she can't go and I'll feel like a demon by preventing her (she's 15 now, will be almost 17 when trip takes place). I just feel that £5k could be spent in a much better way where travel is concerned - I'm sure you can buy a round the world plane tickets for a couple of grand, for example!!

Help...…..

OP posts:
Actionhasmagic · 08/10/2019 19:03

£5k would be better spent on uni if they are going

Headstand · 08/10/2019 19:08

I went on a trip like this at your DD's ages as did one of my siblings but my parents wouldn't contribute. I got a job, babysat, did bake sales, saved every penny of Christmas and Birthday money until I could afford it. So did everyone else on our trip. It was part of the whole learning experience and I learnt a huge amount about budgeting and grafting.

I don't think it's unreasonable for her to go provided she finds it. 18 months is £280 a month or thereabouts to rustle up or £70 a week. Not easy but not impossible.

LittleDancers · 08/10/2019 19:14

Tinkly "He was totally blase about it all, had no concept of his own privilege and was most excited about the fake designer trainers he haggled for in the marketplace. Just too young really."

That made me smile! I did think your post was going to finish up with some virtuous show-boasting about how it broadened his horizons and how he found himself etc so to hear the unvarnished truth that actually, like a lot of kids his age (and probably some adults to be fair) he was most excited about the bargains.

Most refreshing. And honest. Thumbs up.

Cushionsarecomfie · 08/10/2019 19:21

I know i’m going to be flamed for this but I don’t really care. We are lucky on the finance front but we sent DC on a trip for almost £1k that was just overnight. It’s outing to say what because it was quite unusual but you know what I wouldn’t change it. At all. If the money is the issue get her to work for it as it’s two years WY so that’s perfectly reasonable considering her age but why take away the opportunity

SproutsRock · 08/10/2019 19:33

Absolute piss take, the school that is!

TabbyMumz · 08/10/2019 19:35

Our school did this. Only about 15 kids out of 2 year groups went. Total waste of money. Any social responsibility work is a load of rubbish, they went to play football with African school children a handful of times. I'm sure they could have managed without it .

SproutsRock · 08/10/2019 19:35

@AiryFairyMum what 15 year old do you know can earn £50 per week to save only? Don't be so daft!

leomama81 · 08/10/2019 19:38

I travelled 13 countries in Africa taking 6 months. It cost me £5.5K.
£5k for a month is madness.

This ^

Not withstanding everything else, it is an absolute rip off, you are paying this company through the nose and your DD when she is over 18 could have a much, much more formative experience for a longer time with that money. If she wants to volunteer there are much less tokenistic schemes which cost much less.

For it to cost that much without Madagascar and the safari - probably the 2 most expensive elements of the trip - is insane. I spent three weeks in SA a few years ago staying in nice places, eating and drinking in great restaurants, doing a safari and taking a number of internal flights for considerably less than that.

If she wants an experience like this, plan it properly and work towards something in a gap year - this is just a con.

RedPanda2 · 08/10/2019 19:39

@Fuma My thoughts exactly Grin

raspberryk · 08/10/2019 19:42

I went on one of these in 2004 and it absolutely was the trip of a lifetime. I think it was 3.5k then plus kit and jabs and I raised all the money myself - I thought that was the whole idea. Some parents contributed but everyone raised the vast majority of it.
We did bag packing, organised fund raising events at school like a disco, bake sale, refreshments at the school performance, car washing, babysitting, ironing, decorating and part time work.
Has it changed so much that it's paid for parents nowadays? Sorry haven't read the full thread.

BackOnceAgainWithABurnerEmail · 08/10/2019 19:49

Don’t feel obliged just because her current best mates are going. 2 years is a long way away, do they guarantee sixth form places and does she definitely want to stay on for sixth form there?

To me that’s too much.

ControversialFerret · 08/10/2019 19:49

Voluntourism is ethically shit.

Think about it logically, is it better to send £3K into a local economy so that a bona fide charity can train local residents in building and plumbing skills, so that they can work on their own buildings and earn a living at the same time? Or is it preferable that 17 y/o Felicity from Harrogate pays a charity £5K and rocks up with the rest of her classmates to spend a week 'building' an outside toilet (which will require heavy supervision from the charity and not give anyone local a job) all in the name of 'broadening her horizons'?

As an employer I would have far more interest in a school leaver (or graduate) who said that they'd spent 6 months working in the UK in order to sponsor a building project abroad, as compared to someone who did two weeks in 'helping'.

minesagin37 · 08/10/2019 19:54

I thought £1k for my dds ski trip to Austria was expensive. Don't feel so bad now! That's too much for a trip. Why do schools do this?

Baguetteaboutit · 08/10/2019 19:54

No. Bullshit to that. It's a car or a good portion of the first year accommodation costs for uni or living costs while doing an internship or a long independent backpacking holiday or anything else better than navigating South Africa in a 'carefully managed so as to be safe bubble but not just a holiday holiday but building a wall that will be knocked down in a week so you can come back and say you have been changed as though it were all about you in the first place' bullshit trip.

ohmydaysagain · 08/10/2019 19:56

I have exactly the same dilemma with my children at the moment! Kenya for a month in 2021 it's 4K and I have 2 children who want to go! The claim it can all be raised through fundraising and that they will support and advise but I've had to say no! 8k is just too much money and I would be really pushed to find that amount of money and the spending and equipment money it makes me sad they won't get the opportunity but I can't believe the cost is that much Hmm

Oly4 · 08/10/2019 20:05

If I could afford it then yes I’d let her go. It does sound like a trip of a lifetime - at the very least an experience of a lifetime.
But I’d make her work for it and save every bit of money towards it. It could be life-changing

Kaddm · 08/10/2019 20:10

I have a South African friend who has chosen to live here. It is really dangerous. She has bars on her house in SA. I’d give the trip a miss even if It cost £500 not £5000.

theendofsummer · 08/10/2019 20:12

It's not safe . My niece left SA as the violence was rapidly escalating. I'm talking being robbed at gunpoint and neighbours house (walled compound ) broken into and occupant raped

ControversialFerret · 08/10/2019 20:14

Oly4 would you feel the same way if you were the parent of a child in the town being visited and 'helped' by an ever-changing parade of enthusiastic but unskilled teenagers, who have little to offer except their sympathy?

FizzyIce · 08/10/2019 20:16

Holy shite , that price is eye watering

AloeVeraLynn · 08/10/2019 20:21

Why would you pay to send your kid to SA? Really? I have never felt as unsafe as I did in South Africa. Never again. I wouldn't send my child if you paid me.

crushingonpacey · 08/10/2019 20:24

Please do not let your daughter do a world challenge expedition. The company are not what they are themselves out to be, they are fleecing you money wise, and they are not safe. I led a trip with them to Madagascar and my school will never work with them again. They are not safe!!! And I agree with the voluntourism comments.

Rezie · 08/10/2019 20:29

My dream holiday is £3500 and as a 29 yo woman who works 5 days a week, an I cannot justify spending that money. £5k is absolutely ridiculous. I really don't get the point of doing these. I mean, I went to UK and France in school (from Nordics) and that was amazing but we worked our added off doing bake sales and collected money for 4 years and we are talking about €500/person.

BigSandyBalls2015 · 08/10/2019 20:29

Not all of South Africa is violent and dangerous. It’s like saying you wouldn’t go to Newcastle because of a London stabbing!

rainingallday · 08/10/2019 20:30

As an aside, this 'month long' trip includes a trip to Madagascar?

That's 2000 MILES from South Africa. Bit far from an additional trip, and must cost quite a few 100 pounds for the flight alone.

Like many posters here, I would never fork out this money for this trip. It's a bloody rip-off, and as many posters have said, you can get a similar trip for less than half that! Like with MOST school stuff (eg, uniforms, school books, school photos, and 'see your child's story in print' and so on,) SOMEONE is making money - from gullible and unsuspecting parents.

Anyone who thinks this is acceptable, and that the parents should suck it up, and 'just save for it,' is living on another planet. One where the inhabitants are over-privileged, spoilt, and entitled.